2009 World Masters Sailability
Did you know that the 2009 World Masters includes disabled competitors? There are 3 classes of dinghies competing that can be sailed by people with disabilities. (See http://www.sailability.org/ for more details)
These classes are being raced at my home club for the dinghy I sail. (I sail a Heron when I am not playing football http://www.heronsailing.com.au/. The Heron is a great dinghy for Mums and Dads to sail with their kids.)
Dobroyd Aquatic Club (http://www.dobroydsailing.org/) is hosting the following classes.
Access 2.3 Single handed dinghy
Access 303 Single (only 1 person sailing the dinghy)
Access 303 Double (2 people sailing the one dinghy)
The Dobroyd Aquatic Club facilities include a wheelchair accessible pontoon with a hoist for lifting disabled people into the dinghies. The Access dinghies are especially suited to people with a very wide range of disabilities, and DAC believe that they have enabled the first ventilated quadriplegic solo sailor in the world to take to the water. Now that is something!
One of the key features of the Access dinghies is that they are hard to capsize and have been designed so that they can self right (this means that if they capsize they should quickly come back upright again). The centre board for these dinghies is lead filled and takes 2 adults to lift them.
I dropped in on the club house on Wednesday to see how things were going. Below are some photos of the racing. (Click on the pictures to see a larger version of the photo.)
(Above) Rigging some of the dinghies before racing. Once the dinghies are rigged they are put on a trolley and wheeled to the water. Sometimes the skipper (and crew) get in the dinghy when it is on the trolley and are then wheeled into the water with the dinghy. Support crews play a significant role in getting these competitors to the water.
(above) One of the dinghies being launched. You can see the hoist just to the left of the people, at the end of the pontoon.
Racing on the water at Dobroyd Aquatic Club.
The photo above was taken between races. There is a lot happening as some dinghies are launching to start their races and others have just finished are trying to come in. You can see one of the skippers ready to be helped in to the dinghy. Also, see the red dinghy in the left foreground? The sails have been rolled up a bit (furled). This is another feature of these dinghies that allows the sailors to easily manage how much sail they use whilst they are racing. Most other dinghies don’t have this feature.
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